A Polish withdrawal from the European Union, or Polexit (a portmanteau of "Poland" and "exit"), is the name given to a hypothetical Polish withdrawal from the European Union. The term was coined after Brexit, the process of Britain's withdrawal from the EU which took place between 2016 and 2020. Opinion polls held in the country, between 2016 and 2021, indicated majority support for continued membership of the European Union (EU). A 2022 survey indicated that "[at] least eight-in-ten adults in Poland" believed that the EU "promotes peace, democratic values and prosperity". [1] The 2023 Polish parliamentary election was won by a coalition of predominantly pro-EU parties. [2]
Poland joined the European Union in 2004 through the Treaty of Accession 2003. At the time the EU included fifteen countries, mostly from Western, Northern and Southern Europe (see the Maastricht Treaty); the Treaty of Accession 2003 would accept ten more, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, and the Baltic states.
In 2016, following continued political pressures from British Eurosceptics, Britain conducted a referendum on withdrawal from the EU. After the referendum had narrowly favored withdrawal, international media started speculating about the prospects of a similar event taking place in Poland (a so-called Polexit). [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
In 2019, the Supreme Court of Poland warned that the judicial reform planned by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party could result in Poland having to leave the EU, as it undermines the independence of the judiciary and challenges the principle of the primacy of EU law, which is a key condition for membership that Poland had signed up to in its Treaty of Accession. [8]
On 22 November 2020, Do Rzeczy , a Polish weekly newspaper, published a front-page article called "Polexit: We have the right to talk about it". [7]
In September 2021, Ryszard Terlecki, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm and head of the Law and Justice parliamentary caucus, said that his party '[wanted] to remain in the EU and to have a cooperative relationship', but that the EU 'should be acceptable to us'. He added that if things were to go the way they were likely to go, they would have to search for a "drastic solution", further contending that the British left the EU because "the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy did not suit them". This led to some people saying Terlecki had thus called for a Polexit. [9] [10]
The government of Poland has been making controversial changes to the Polish judiciary, in particular as related to the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, the National Council of the Judiciary, the Supreme Court as well as its Disciplinary Chamber. These have attracted scrutiny from the European Court of Justice, which has been issuing rulings attempting to stop these changes that it sees as undermining the rule of law and judicial independence. [11] [12] [13] The Tribunal's legitimacy is contested after multiple appointments of judges loyal to the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party were made, some of which in controversial circumstances. [14] [15]
In March 2021, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked the Constitutional Tribunal whether the Polish constitution [lower-alpha 1] is above EU regulations and EU court rulings and whether the European Court of Justice acted beyond the powers granted by the EU treaties when controlling the judicial reforms in Poland, which the government insisted was the case. [16]
On 7 October 2021, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that some provisions of EU treaties and EU court rulings clashed with the Constitution of Poland, asserting that EU institutions [were acting] beyond the scope of their competences; effectively rejecting the notion of primacy of EU law. [14] [17] BBC News and Foreign Policy reported that this risked Polexit, [17] [18] while the Financial Times called it "legal secession from the EU"; [19] however, The Economist opined that Polexit is unlikely due to this court ruling, instead talking of a "dirty remain". [20]
In the 2003 Polish referendum on joining the EU, 77.6% of voters voted in favor. Poland joined the EU the following year, and since then–according to regular polls conducted by the governmental Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS)–no more than a quarter of respondents ever supported leaving, with support gradually waning down to a mere 5% in 2019 and 6% in 2021. [21] For more results, see the table below.
Date | Leave | Remain | Abstain [lower-alpha 3] | Undecided | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 2016 [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] | 22% | - | - | - | Ipsos [22] |
September 2016 [lower-alpha 6] | 8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | OKO.press / Ipsos [23] |
January 2018 [lower-alpha 6] | 10% | N/A | N/A | N/A | OKO.press / Ipsos [24] |
September 2018 | 11% | 83% | - | 3% | TVN / Kantar Millward Brown [25] |
October 2018 | 8% | 84% | - | 8% | Rzeczpospolita / IBRiS [26] |
December 2018 [lower-alpha 6] | 8% | N/A | N/A | N/A | OKO.press / Ipsos [24] |
March 2019 [lower-alpha 5] | - | 87% | - | - | Globsec [27] |
September 2019 | 13% | 75% | 5% | 7% | Kantar [28] |
January 2020 | 6% | 89% | - | 5% | TVN / Kantar Media [29] |
November 2020 | 8% | 87% | - | 5% | TVN / Kantar Media [30] |
November 2020 [lower-alpha 6] | 7% | N/A | N/A | N/A | OKO.press / Ipsos [31] |
November 2020 [lower-alpha 5] | 11% | 81.1% | - | 7.9% | Rzeczpospolita / IBRiS [32] |
July 2021 | 16.9% | 62.6% | - | 20% | Rzeczpospolita / SWR [33] |
September 2021 | 7% | 81% | - | 12% | TVN / Kantar Media [34] |
September 2021 | - | 88% | - | - | Gazeta Wyborcza / OKO.press / Ipsos [35] |
September 2021 [lower-alpha 5] | 16.2% | 64.5% | 7.2% | 12.1% | Rzeczpospolita / SWR [36] |
October 2021 [lower-alpha 5] | 14.8% | 64.4% | 6.7% | 14.1% | Rzeczpospolita / SWR [37] |
However, there is some support for conducting a second referendum on EU membership: in an October 2021 poll conducted for Rzeczpospolita , 42.6% of respondents were for, while 36.9% were against. [37]
In response to the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal earlier that month (mentioned above), more than 100,000 Poles took part in a 10 October 2021 demonstrations in support of Poland's continued membership, including 80,000-100,000 protesters in Warsaw alone. [38]
In general, Eurosceptic parties in Poland hold right-wing political views. For instance, the Confederation Liberty and Independence (Konfederacja) party has called for a withdrawal from the European Union on several occasions, [39] [40] and its electorate is among the most Eurosceptic on the Polish political arena, with a quarter of voters for the party endorsing Polexit, according to a November 2020 poll. [31] Similarly, members of United Poland (Solidarna Polska), a junior coalition partner for PiS, have questioned whether the EU is appropriate for Polish interests, [41] [42] [43] and the party's head, Zbigniew Ziobro, said he would not approve any constitutional change anchoring Poland in the European Union; [44] however, they also said that if the European Union institutions get "appropriately" reformed, they might agree to stay. [45] [46] PolEXIT , which emerged on the base of the Congress of the New Right and is centered around Stanisław Żółtek, a former MEP from that party and candidate for 2020 presidential election, is also arguing for secession from the European Union. It is not currently represented in either Polish or European parliament. In 2020, Żółtek received 0,23% of votes in the presidential elections.
Law and Justice (PiS) and Kukiz'15 are also Eurosceptic parties. [47] [48] Critics, including Donald Tusk (former President of the European Council as well as leader of the Civic Platform), and currently the Prime Minister of Poland, warn that PiS' actions will eventually lead to Polexit and will jeopardise Poland's future in the EU, [38] [49] though Jarosław Kaczyński, its leader, and former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki both dismissed the allegations that PiS is preparing for it as "fake news", [26] [50] [51] [52] while Paweł Kukiz said that "no Polexit would happen because there's no possibility for the EU to expel us". [53] Similar remarks were made by Przemysław Czarnek, the former minister of education. [54]
There are currently no left-wing, left-of-centre or centrist parties represented in parliament endorsing Polexit, and their electorate's support for withdrawal from the European Union is negligible. [31] The somewhat conservative Polish People's Party (PSL) and Poland 2050 are also known as a pro-European political organisations.
Law and Justice is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński.
Poland does not legally recognize same-sex unions, either in the form of marriage or civil unions. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have limited legal rights in regards to the tenancy of a shared household. A few laws also guarantee certain limited rights for unmarried couples, including couples of the same sex. Same-sex spouses also have access to residency rights under EU law.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Poland face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. According to ILGA-Europe's 2023 report, the status of LGBTQ rights in Poland is the worst among the European Union countries.
Poland does not use the euro as its currency. However, under the terms of their Treaty of Accession with the European Union, all new Member States "shall participate in the Economic and Monetary Union from the date of accession as a Member State with a derogation", which means that Poland is obliged to eventually replace its currency, the złoty, with the euro.
The judiciary of Poland are the authorities exercising the judicial power of the Polish state on the basis of Chapter 8 of the Constitution of Poland. As in almost all countries of continental Europe, the Polish judiciary operates within the framework of civil law.
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Kukiz'15 is a right-wing populist political party in Poland led by Paweł Kukiz.
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Poland has been a member state of the European Union since 1 May 2004, with the Treaty of Accession 2003 signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens as the legal basis for Poland's accession to the EU. The actual process of integrating Poland into the EU began with Poland's application for membership in Athens on 8 April 1994, and then the confirmation of the application by all member states in Essen from 9–10 December 1994. Poland's integration into the European Union is a dynamic and continuously ongoing process.
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The United Right was a parliamentary group formed by Jarosław Gowin and Zbigniew Ziobro with their respective parties, Poland Together and United Poland. After their cooperation at 2015 Polish parliamentary election with the Law and Justice party, 'United Right' became a media label for the ruling right-wing political alliance of Law and Justice with its aforementioned partners in Poland.
The Polish Coalition is a political alliance in Poland. It is led by the Polish People's Party.
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The Second Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki was the government of Poland, headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, since being sworn in by President Andrzej Duda on 15 November 2019 until 27 November 2023. The Prime Minister delivered a statement to the Sejm on 19 November 2019 before obtaining a vote of confidence with 237 of the 460 MPs voting in the affirmative.
Szymon Hołownia's Poland 2050 is a centrist to centre-right political party in Poland.
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The Third Way is a political alliance in Poland that was formed on 27 April 2023, before the 2023 parliamentary election. The coalition's aim is to provide an alternative to both Law and Justice and Civic Platform, the dominant political parties in Poland in the 2010s and early 2020s. The coalition was created by centrist Poland 2050 of Szymon Hołownia and the agrarian Polish People's Party, which leads the centre-right Polish Coalition.
Tusk elected prime minister [..] after a national election was won by a coalition of pro-EU parties